Seasons
by Lindelynia
Summary: Prologue and chapter 1 now up! "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." (Ecc 3:1) A series of drabbles/one-shots/snippets from the lives of our favorite turtles!
1. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

_Hey, everyone!_

 _It's been a loooong time since I've written anything. But I had an idea that I thought would be pretty cool, and that will give me a break from academics when I need it! This is going to be a series of drabbles/one-shots that aren't necessarily related to one another, but that cover the many seasons of life that we all experience. It MAY go chronologically. I dunno yet. I haven't decided._

 _Each chapter is going to be based on a passage of Scripture found in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes! It's one of my favorites, and it served as an inspiration for this particular idea. :)_

 _I will try to update as regularly as possible, but just keep in mind that this isn't a chronological story-so don't be too stressed out if I don't post for a while! Enjoy the little snippets of life for what they are!_

 _For now, the prologue: AKA the Bible verse. Thank you guys ahead of time, and enjoy. :)_

 _\- Haley_

* * *

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,  
a time to plant and a time to uproot,  
a time to kill and a time to heal,  
a time to tear down and a time to build,  
a time to weep and a time to laugh,  
a time to mourn and a time to dance,  
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,  
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,  
a time to search and a time to give up,  
a time to keep and a time to throw away,  
a time to tear and a time to mend,  
a time to be silent and a time to speak,  
a time to love and a time to hate,  
a time for war and a time for peace.


	2. A time to be born

_A/N: First real chapter is up! Yay!_

 _I know it's taken a little bit, but ya know...college. :)_

 _I'm kinda proud of this chapter and can't wait to start working on the next one!_

 _Enjoy!_

 _EDIT: I'm a ding-dong who can't do math. The dates have been fixed appropriately! :)_

* * *

 **A time to be born...**

 _Tuesday, May 20, 1997_

"Ooh, look!"

"What?"

"I swear, I saw one of them move!"

"You're being optimistic, Laura," said Robert, an overweight 30-something year old man, from behind the counter. He pushed his black, square glasses up the bridge of his nose with an index finger and then continued to work on his crossword puzzle. "It's only been...what, 50 days? It'll probably be another week or two before those guys are ready to hatch."

His words failed to deter the young blonde's excitement. Laura bent down and peered into the glass turtle tank, where 8 red-eared slider eggs lay half-buried under some dirt. The "L" written on her egg was barely visible. She could've _sworn_ she saw some dirt shift.

"What's the matter, Robert," a bored-looking teenager droned as she stacked small packs of food on a shelf. "Worried you'll lose the bet?"

Robert guffawed, cracked a smile, and laid the book down long enough to lean forward and rest his upper body against the counter top. "No, I'm not. It just happens that this isn't my first turtle-nesting rodeo. I know how these things go."

"Whatever, nerd," the teenager smirked.

Just then, a woman burst through the front door, struggling to carry large bags of dog food. "Robert? Molly? Can somebody help me, please?" Her voice shook under the strain, but it was still enough to put every employee into motion. Moving quickly, the group worked together to unload all the food bags from the delivery truck, with little to no help from the truck's driver. Under Deana's leadership, this team was unstoppable.

The troupe carried the last few bags into the store as the delivery truck drove away with its loud, revving engine. The shop's little bell rang with the last shut of the door. "Okay, Laura, help me move half of these to the back," Deana said firmly. "Robert and Molly, use the other half to stock the empty shelves. Whatever's left over, we'll move back here, too."

"You got it, boss," Molly mock-saluted in an unenthusiastic manner. Deana and Laura went right to work, ignoring Molly and Robert's playful banter in the background.

"I saw my egg move today," Laura smiled between heavy breaths. "The turtle egg." She meant to keep her voice down, but the unexpected toll of carrying two heavy bags at once to and from the main floor left her with a lack of control over the volume of her own voice. Just as she feared, Robert didn't miss a beat.

"She means she _thinks_ she saw her egg move," Robert announced pointedly from a room away. Laura rolled her eyes with an exasperated grin, and Deana half-smiled at her trainee in sympathy. Robert continued, "They're on day 52; I checked. It should be another 8 days at _least_."

"Stranger things have happened, Robert," Deana shot back. She winked at Laura, who seemed to appreciate the gesture. "Remember the dog who came in with African worms?"

Silence. "Yeah, that was pretty weird."

Deana looked to be about the same weight as Robert, but she had a good amount of muscle; or, at least, that's what Laura decided when she noticed how out of breath she was and how _not_ out of breath Deana was.

"Don't mind my husband. He just doesn't want to have to order pizza if you win," Deana whispered.

"He won't have to," Molly called, giving a rare-albeit, cocky-grin. "M's got it in the bag. We'll be eating Chinese food for a _week_."

"Oh, that's funny; I could've sworn we were gonna have McDonald's."

"You're gonna give us all heart attacks, Rob. Literally. We're going to die from high cholesterol."

"Don't worry, Mol. Even McDonald's has salads."

"Ten bucks says it's not even real lettuce."

"You know what? I'll let you try and figure it out when we order it."

"Alright, zip it, you two," Deana ordered as she and Laura reentered the shop. Molly and Robert still had a few bags to go, probably because they'd been goofing off the whole time. Deana stepped behind the counter, pulled out a clipboard, and started writing with the pen Robert had been using earlier for his crossword puzzle. "Besides, I think we all know we'll be having breakfast food when those eggs hatch," Deana finished cheekily. Groans erupted from the two disgruntled employees, but Deana cackled all the more. Laura smiled ruefully, knowing full well that Deana had a knack for always coming out on top when it came to workplace bets. Robert called it the boss/wife cheat sheet. Deana called it luck.

Still, Laura had seen her own egg move. She _had_. She smiled; she could smell the pizza already.

* * *

 _Wednesday, May 21, 1997_

The small, digital clock behind the pet shop's desk read, in green, "12:01 a.m." All was quiet-the shop was empty, except for the sleeping birds, reptiles, and fish. The store's only light came from a neon sign across the street; it slipped through the window and colored the store blue. Outside, the sounds of sirens, honks, and music flooded the streets, but it may as well have been white noise for all it did to wake the shop's owners, who slept upstairs. When the clock struck 12:02, movement came from inside the turtle tank.

It was such a small movement that, in the dark, it would have gone unseen, were any human there to see it. What looked to be a clump of dirt shifted to reveal white splotches of an egg shell underneath. The clump expanded and shrunk three times before a little, green head poked out with its egg tooth still attached to its beak. The infant blinked its black eyes and slowly looked around, becoming aware of itself. Its excellent vision made it easy to see, even though the room was dark, but it quickly found the world a little overwhelming and retreated back into his egg. Once the turtle's heart rate slowed and it felt confident again, it stretched its small arms forward and dug its claws into the soft dirt just outside of the egg's boundaries. Using that as leverage, the turtle pulled itself out of the egg permanently.

It found its footing to be a little shaky, for its muscles were still fresh; consequently, the little turtle fell flat on its face when it tried to stand up. When it regained its balance, it managed to push itself up enough to look around again. When the turtle opened and closed its mouth a few times, it tasted dirt, which it didn't mind all that much.

It never looked back at its old home: the broken egg shell with an "L" written on the side.

* * *

Wednesday morning at 7:45 a.m., Laura walked through the front door with a _ding_. Robert was sweeping the floor, letting a large yawn slip, while Deana went from cage to cage to make sure every animal had enough food for at least a few hours. "Morning," Laura greeted them warmly with a smile. It was received with muttered "good morning"s from the older married couple, who clearly were not morning people.

As usual, Laura went behind the counter and up the hidden staircase to set her stuff in Deana and Robert's kitchen. The pet shop didn't have an official break room, so Laura and Molly used Deana and Robert's apartment instead. They were considered trustworthy enough, Laura supposed. Then again, Laura only took short breaks. She was a hard-worker and genuinely enjoyed her job, so she liked to stay in the store as long as possible, even if she was only paid for her part-time hours. Molly, on the other hand, was nineteen and couldn't care less about her job; she'd show up at 11:30 a.m., half an hour after the pet store opened, and then take a lunch break at 12:00 that would last till 1:00. Then she'd leave at 5, even though the store didn't close till 8:30. It helped that Molly was Robert and Deana's niece. Or second cousin. Or something like that.

After Laura went through her usual routine of setting her lunch bag in the refrigerator, refilling her water bottle, clocking in on the downstairs computer, she went to check on the turtle eggs. And sh-

She gasped.

"It hatched! My egg, it hatched!"

Laura sounded like a little girl, but she didn't care. She was too excited. Robert and Deana rushed over, and Robert pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as if to make sure he wouldn't have the wool pulled over his eyes. When he saw the evidence for himself, in the form of an empty shell with an "L" written on it and an infant turtle crawling around, he groaned. "Damn. Pizza it is, I guess."

As he walked away forlornly, Deana scooted in close next to Laura. "Oh, look at him," the older woman cooed.

"How do you know it's a boy?" Laura asked curiously. "I didn't think you were able to tell until they get a little older."

"Just a feeling," Deana winked. She nudged Laura's arm with her elbow. "Then again, I was wrong about _my_ egg, so maybe my feelings are a little off." Laura grinned and then Deana was gone, walking over to the front desk where Robert halfheartedly flipped through the phone book behind the counter. Laura was too focused on little "L" to take much notice, though. It... _He?_ He was so tiny-barely bigger than a quarter! His dark green skin was striped yellow in random places, like a zebra. Where his ears would have been were instead slits of red, hence his species' name, the "red-eared slider." His sharp claws were separated by webbed toes; if he were big (like, Godzilla big) Laura imagined he would be kind of frightening.

"So, Laura," Deana said, breaking Laura's train of thought and causing the young blonde to stand and turn around. "Since you've broken my winning-streak, I guess that means you're ready to take over the shop." Deana raised her eyebrows suggestively, with an almost-taunting grin, and Robert kind of snickered as he dialed numbers into a phone. Laura chuckled nervously. It was always hard to tell when Deana was kidding.

"Hey, we're gonna need two large pizzas: one cheese, one pepperoni. Afternoon delivery," Robert said over the phone.

* * *

 _Friday, May 23, 1997_

A few other, label-less eggs started hatching pretty soon after "L", but the next employee-pick didn't hatch until two days later. At 7:00 a.m. that Friday, the egg with the letter "D" on it started to move.

That's pretty much all it did, though.

"D" was in no hurry to come out of his shell; he put forward enough effort only to crack the egg open slightly. Throughout the day, Laura, Molly, and Deana caught glimpses of the infant's little green head poking all the way out, but as soon as he felt like he'd been spotted, he'd retreat. Robert didn't come to look, because he was still bitter that 5/8 eggs had hatched, and his wasn't one of them.

He wouldn't have to wait long, though; around 4:30 that same afternoon, another egg began to move-the one labeled "R." This turtle was easily the quickest one to hatch, so far; he spared no time breaking open his shell and crawling all the way out. The only problem was that, with the way his egg was tilted, he was just _slightly_ too high to touch the ground. Molly laughed because of how grumpy the little guy looked trying to use gravity to tilt the egg down far enough to touch the ground, his tiny arms swimming mid-air. But with Robert cheering him on, he finally came free.

The last unmarked egg hatched overnight. Seven turtles now wandered around freely; "D" finally came out of his shell on Saturday. He spent more time away from the group than he did with his siblings, preferring to stare through the glass at the outside world. Once, Laura bent down to get a better look at him, and she smiled and gave a little wave. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn he smiled back.

"M" was the last egg left, not that Molly particularly cared by this point; she wasn't getting her Chinese food, so...meh. But at noon that Sunday, "M" suddenly shot through the roof of his egg-literally, right through the very top-and caused his egg to fall all the way over. He came tumbling out, landing on his back and wiggling all his limbs in a panic. The other turtles only blinked at him. Deana was the one who reached in and put him right-side up again.

* * *

 _Monday, September 29, 1997_

 _Ding._

The pet store's bell rang to announce the arrival of a potential customer. He was a reserved-looking, middle-aged man. Laura guessed he was either Japanese or Korean, but to be honest, it was hard for her to say. His hooded eyes seemed dark and distant, and...lost. When he came in, he paused, and it was almost like, for a moment, he didn't even remember why he'd stepped into the store in the first place. Laura took that as her cue to step in.

"Hey, there," she greeted. She seemed to startle him a little. "Can I help you find something?" Laura ventured. The man shook his head no and then stepped around her, not saying a word. Laura blinked at his odd behavior but then turned to watch him wander over to the bird cages.

"Well, just let me know if you need... Anything..." She trailed off. He wasn't listening. The poor man was lost in his own world; Laura could only imagine why. Maybe he'd lost his job; or maybe his wife left him. That would explain the desire to buy a pet: loneliness. Laura frowned sympathetically as she watched the older gentleman walk from birdcage to birdcage, not quite finding whatever he was looking for. He went over to the fish tanks next, but he wasn't looking for a fish either, not really. He wanted something he'd be able to hold, Laura guessed. Obviously he wasn't interested in a cat or dog, maybe because they'd be too much work, but birds or fish weren't the right fit either.

Finally, he wandered over to the reptiles.

He looked at the snakes and the lizards, big and small, but in the end, he wound up at the turtle tank. Laura smiled to herself. The baby turtles were adorable; no one could resist them! They were four months old, but, to Laura at least, they were as cute as the day they hatched.

"The little ones with tape on their backs were employee picks," she explained to the man who didn't ask, but who quirked an eyebrow at her oddly. "We had a bet to see who would hatch first." She pointed. "The one with the blue tape was mine; Robert and Deana's were the red and purple ones, and then Molly, our resident moody teenager, picked the orange one." The older man smirked with no humor at the "moody" comment, but he did seem especially interested in those four turtles after her story. Laura looked between him and the tank, trying to gauge his interest. "They're about four months old," she continued, since he hadn't walked away yet. "That's, like, toddler-aged in turtle time."

Something flashed across the man's eyes, then. Something equally frightening and painful to the young blonde who witnessed it. A long, awkward moment passed, and then the man stood up straight and looked at Laura. The same, sad look was back as quickly as it had gone. "I'll take those four."

Laura helped him pick out a little tank with some rocks and fake greenery. The man picked plants native to Japan, which made Laura smile. It didn't quite solve her riddle, but it helped, she guessed.

He seemed to open up more and more the longer he was with her. As they picked out food together, she could've sworn she saw him smile; but, if she did, it was quickly gone. When it finally came time to check out, he was back to his old, solemn self.

"Who won the bet?" He asked at the counter, catching Laura off guard. When she blinked at him, he probably assumed that she didn't know what he was talking about, but she was really only shocked that he was speaking to her. "When the turtles hatched," he explained for her, "which one hatched first?"

Laura's smile was gentle, but triumphant. "Mine did. The blue one." The man nodded and then looked away-to the left, to the right, down...anywhere but where Laura was. "Molly's, the orange, was last. Pretty sure Deana's was after mine and _then_ Robert's, but Robert says that since his came out of the egg first, Deana's egg hatch didn't count."

Finally, the price of everything was totaled, and the man struggled to carry everything in his arms. Laura offered to help him, but, of course, he declined. As he started to walk out the door, Laura got his attention.

"What's your name?" She asked suddenly, but not unkindly. The Japanese man stared at her for a moment before replying, "Y-...Splinter."

 _Hm_ , Laura thought. _Odd name_. "Well, I'm Laura. If you need anything, feel free to come back anytime." She gave him one last reassuring smile. He seemed surprised by the young woman's kindness. _I wonder how long it's been since anyone's been nice to him_ , Laura wondered, watching him walk out of the store. _Poor guy. Well, hopefully those little guys will help keep him company._


End file.
